Alabama Family Sentenced to Prison for Identity Theft Scheme

Mary Young and her husband, Christian Young were sentenced today, and her son, Octavious Reeves, was sentenced late yesterday, for their involvement in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. for the Middle District of Alabama. Mary Young was sentenced to serve 87 months in prison, Christian Young was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison, and Octavious Reeves was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison. Reeves pleaded guilty in February 2013 to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft and the Youngs pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft in November 2013. All three defendants’ prison sentences will be followed by three years of supervised release. Mary and Christian Young were each ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $415,070, and Reeves was ordered to pay $42,257 in restitution.

According to court documents, between January 2010 and June 2012, Mary Young, Christian Young, Octavious Reeves and others obtained stolen identities from individuals and used this information to file false tax returns. The false tax returns were filed from the Youngs’ residence and the conspirators directed the false tax refunds to prepaid debit cards in the names of the identity theft victims. The prepaid debit cards were mailed to several addresses in and around Elmore, Ala. Both Youngs and Reeves used the prepaid debit cards to withdraw the fraudulent proceeds. In total, the co-conspirators received over $400,000 in fraudulent tax refunds.

The case was investigated by Special Agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation with assistance from the Elmore County Sheriff’s Department. Trial Attorneys Michael Boteler, Charles Edgar Jr., and Gregory Bailey of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at the division website